Absentee Ballot Envelope Moistening Station Seeks Volunteers; Sponge Budget Doubled to $80

MAPLE COUNTY — The elections office is seeking volunteers for its Absentee Ballot Envelope Moistening Station, and this year the sponge budget has been doubled — from $40 to $80 — in what officials call an unprecedented investment in envelope integrity.

The station, a folding table near the clerk’s counter staffed by rotating volunteers, exists because the county’s absentee ballot envelopes use old-style lickable adhesive, a cost-saving measure the elections office defends and the volunteers’ taste buds do not. Last year, volunteers moistened 12,000 envelopes. This year, with absentee requests up 30 percent, the office projects 16,000.

The sponge budget covers 200 high-density cellulose sponges, a spray bottle reserve, and what the requisition form lists as morale mints. Station captain Ruth Ann Beiler, a volunteer since 2008, oversees the operation with the calm of a woman who has sealed democracy’s mail through four presidential cycles and one memorable paper cut.

There is a technique, Beiler said, demonstrating with a practiced wrist flick. One pass, firm but gentle. You do not soak it. You coax it. New volunteers practice on junk mail for a full hour before touching a real ballot envelope, a training protocol Beiler developed herself and calls the envelope academy.

The doubling of the sponge budget follows last year’s Sponge Shortage, when the station ran dry on the final Friday before the deadline and volunteers resorted to what the incident report euphemistically calls alternative moistening methods. Beiler declined to elaborate, saying only that the office learned its lesson and that the mints helped.

Health and safety protocols are posted at the station: wash hands before your shift, replace your sponge every 200 envelopes, and take breaks, because, as the laminated sign reads, REPETITIVE SEALING IS REAL. The county nurse has approved the protocols and, per Beiler, brings cookies on Fridays.

Volunteers work two-hour shifts and receive the standard election volunteer package: a name badge, a pen, unlimited coffee, and the deep satisfaction of knowing that somewhere, a voter’s ballot is securely sealed because of your wrist technique. Beiler says the station has a 94 percent volunteer return rate, the highest in the elections office.

Interested residents may sign up at the clerk’s office or by calling the volunteer hotline. Experience is not required. A strong wrist, a patient spirit, and no fear of paper cuts are preferred. The sponges, this year, will not run out.